Why Wired Employees Are Good

I'm really fortunate: my job requires me to stay on top of the more fluttery edges of the online communication so I get to explore Twitter, Facebook, augmented reality, and whatnot as part of my daily work. But it turns out that my willingness and interest in these things may also make me a better employee.

At least that's what they think at the delightfully named Gruntled Employees. The part I like the best: "They also know that what they say reflects upon them and their company."

That is so true. The fact is that in this modern age, your personal online profile and your professional online profiles, pages, blogs, tweets and so on are almost inextricably linked. It's a Catch 20/20 (as I once heard someone say -- a conflict in hindsight!). On the one hand you need to use your real self in some of your online activities so you get the networking benefit -- after all what good is your fabulous online brand if it doesn't also help you when you need to make your connections work for you and your company. On the other hand, there may be drunkface pictures of you out there in your online activities.

But I don't think that's a big deal. Because in the main, you, savvy online denizen that you are, know that your online personna is a big whole picture that includes the drunkface and the brilliant blog posts. And the ability to balance your personal life and your professional life is inextricably tied to that, too.

So you need to exercise balance and being awesome in all media. Real life, online, tweeting, blogging, and so on. It will make you a good employee and a good person.